The New Generation (A Coven fanfic)
by a girl of many obsessions
Summary: Imploding walls, an unspoken secret, and a little boarding school in New Orleans are what make up Opal Dawn's new life. Can she deal with the change, and her newfound abilities in witchery and odd new friends?


"So the walls just… Closed in?"

"Yeah. Pretty much." I was sitting in the closed-in, unreasonably tiny office of my school's principal, trying to explain something extremely odd that had just happened. Actually, no. 'Odd' was an understatement. This kind of thing was just insane, and I couldn't believe I'd been the only one to survive whatever had taken place in the sweat-stained gymnasium during fifth period. Still in my lilac stretch shorts and black v-neck that I had put on for the tedious forty minutes that was my gym class, I tried to comprehend what had happened for the principal. It wasn't really working out.

"What exactly happened, miss Dawn?"

"I already told you. I was trying to hit the ball over the net for volleyball or whatever and the walls imploded. And now, apparently, everybody is crushed to death except for me and I have no idea what happened."

It wasn't as if I cared, particularly, that my classmates had been completely smashed in between two walls so that their bones resembled shards of jagged glass. They had been harassing me all class, yelling at me every time I missed. I asked to be excused so that I could go pee, which meant something more along the lines of sitting and fuming alone until I was sufficiently calm again. Once I was in the bathroom across the hallway, I could hear screaming.

That was it. At first, I thought there was somebody with a gun or something, but that hadn't been the case. I approached the gym to find that the walls were inching closer together, making the already claustrophobic-inducing atmosphere much, much worse. Even more confusing, nobody seemed to be able to get out, and I sure as hell wasn't going in.

"Alright. Where were you when this happened?"

"In the bathroom. I heard screaming coming from across the hall, so I thought there was a shooter. But that's what I saw instead." I knew that what I was saying sounded crazy, but how else was I supposed to explain the entirety of my gym class being smashed to death?

"It's a little bit concerning, Opal, that you seem to not care at all that ten students and one teacher are now dead." She leaned forward, her eyes surveying me suspiciously, one badly filled-in eyebrow raised higher than the other.

"Okay, then. Have a shitload of fun trying to accuse me of doing something that I have neither the resources or strength to do. Also, do you really think that if I murdered them that I'd just come up with some stupid excuse like that? I'm not that dumb, Mrs. Shelley, contrary to popular belief."

She sent me out to the hallway and made a phone call, which I was sure was to my mom. "You're being picked up in ten minutes. This matter will be further investigated, you can be assured," she told me sternly, her head peeking out from behind the glass-paneled door. I rolled my charcoal-rimmed eyes and slid down into a plastic chair that sat in front if the office, crossing my legs. How the hell was I going to explain this to my mom? There was no rational excuse. All I had had to do was stand helplessly off to the side stressed in my ridiculous gym uniform as the teachers frantically attempted to check for pulses from the slumped bodies that had once been high school students. There had to be a reasons. Walls don't just close in on people, do they?

When I arrived home, my bags were already packed and laid across my bed in neat rows. I'd tried to talk in the car, but my mom had only silenced me. I turned to my mom, confusion ignited from the packed suitcases positioned on my face. "Mom, what is going on?"

She sighed heavily and grasped my shoulders with both of her hands. She was a few inches taller than me, and her dark caramel eyes that were accented with lines from years of laughing and smiling fixated on my makeup-smeared green ones, accentuated with violet under eye circles.

"Opal, I should have told you before something like this happened. You're a witch, honey. It kind of runs in the Dawn family."

I snorted loudly, unable to control the bursts of laughter that had started escaping my mouth. "Yeah, okay. As much as I wish that were true, what is the actual explanation for this bullshit?"

"Dawn, you were annoyed in that gym class, weren't you? People were bothering you, weren't they? You wanted to exact your revenge. So you closed the walls on them."

My mother wasn't one to joke in dire times like this, but I refused to believe that she wasn't joking, only making something up that would make more sense than any other reasoning for whatever the hell had happened earlier today.

"Well, I wouldn't say I wanted to exact revenge or anything. But I was pretty pissed off. Volleyball tends to do that to a person."

"Young witches who don't know about their powers tend to wind up killing people accidentally when they're angry or upset. I should have told you. I just didn't know how strong your powers were yet."

Now I felt the smallest tingling of belief. What reason would she have to make this up? And I had been in a shitty mood when it'd happened; I didn't necessarily want to kill them; maybe beat the shit out of them, sure, but not end their lives. But I'd been fed up with the way they continuously yelled at me. I mean, it wasn't like they were trying to be mean, but the constant persisting to hit the ball was beginning to really irritate me.

"So what happens now? Where am I going?" I adverted my attention to my now bare room, save for the black luggage bags that were packed with my clothes and whatever else I'd need for a trip.

"New Orleans."

The train ride was lonely and uneventful, nothing distracting me from the passing scenery but my burning thoughts. It didn't take too long; I didn't live very far from New Orleans, just a couple of hours away. All I could think about was the way everything had changed in a matter of hours; one second I was a relatively normal 16-year-old junior in high school, and the next I was apparently a witch.

When I arrived at the school, I was surprised that it didn't look like a rustic hogwarts-type building like I'd expected, and rather a white, dated house with towering black gates guarding the entry. A plaque on the gates read "Miss Robichaux's Academy: for exceptional young ladies" in faded engraved lettering, and I stopped to examine it for a second before I continued through to the front door, wheeling my stuff behind me. It was all too much that I was going to be living here for who knows how long. I couldn't believe my mom hadn't told me quite possibly one of the coolest family secrets you could have, but I was glad I knew now, at the very least. At least now I could work on training my powers and not accidentally killing people.

It had all been so abrupt; it was almost surreal. But as I listened to the bottoms of my high-heeled boots click against the pavement and felt the biting January wind on my face, I knew it was real, and not some type of intense, hyper realistic dream.

I wasn't leaving much behind; I didn't have any friends at the school I'd resided previously, and I lived alone with my mom. Now I knew why she was always afraid to get close to people. It was because she had powers that could potentially be dangerous.

A blond-haired boy dressed in a black suit and bow tie came from the front door with an inviting smile on his face, and he approached me. "I'll take your bags in. You can meet with Cordelia in her office." I nodded, not entirely sure who Cordelia was or where her office was located, but I followed him inside nevertheless. I hadn't been sure on what to wear, so I was dressed in a pair of black frayed shorts, a pair of sheer tights with runs down the thighs, and sturdy black combat boots. As a shirt I had on an oversized raven hoodie with nothing underneath; it made for a good sleep shirt and was really comfortable.

"I'll leave your stuff outside her office. I'm Kyle, by the way. I'm kind of the guard dog of this coven." He had a friendly air about him, and I found it adorable when he smiled widely at me, completely genuine.

"What's a coven?"

He ignored me, probably used to the question from new witches who had no idea what the hell they were doing. I knocked gingerly on the door, and a warm voice told me that it was all right to come in. Edging the door open with my shoulder, I entered timidly, afraid of what might be waiting. Instead of something intimidating, I found myself face to face with a modest-looking, skinny blond woman with a peaceful half smile settled across her symmetrical face, seated behind a desk.

"Sit down, honey. Things aren't usually this formal, I assure you. I've just been expecting you to arrive. I'm Miss Cordelia. I'm the headmistress of this academy, as well as the supreme of this coven."

I obeyed, taking a seat in a velvet-laden chair in front of her. "Ah, okay, burning question. What is a coven? And a supreme?"

"A coven is a group of witches, honey. And a supreme is the leader of them, the most powerful." I widened my eyes as I overlooked the mild headmistress in front of me. She was the most powerful of a group of witches? I wouldn't have expected it. Then again, I wouldn't have expected half the things that were happening to me. "Oh, wow. Cool."

She walked around the side of the desk and perched herself on top, crossing her legs primly. "You can see all of the other supremes our coven has had in the main room. Each one gets a portrait painted. Only three months ago we had but four witches attending the academy, of which only two are still with us. However, I had the chance to advertise the school, and our school has over forty members now. Our population used to be dwindling, but now it is thriving." She beamed, and I jerked my chin upwards to signify my understanding.

"And I am one?"

"Well, obviously, dear. Let me review this file. So, you're here because you accidentally killed a group of students by-" Cordelia paused, rereading the papers she'd been leafing through with a perplexed expression on her face,"-imploding the school gymnasium walls on them?"

"Yeah, basically. I'm not going to go to, like, witch jail, am I? Because I didn't do it on purpose, I swear."

She snickered, shaking her head so that her yellow shoulder length hair gently brushed against the sides of her face. "No, it's not a crime if you didn't know you had powers. And there is no such thing as witch jail."

"Okay, just making sure," I said quickly, trying to play off the previous statement as a joke even though I hadn't been kidding.

"So, let's see. Your form of power is exceptionally high and unusual for your young age of 16, higher than the majority of the girls at this school. I'd like if you would room with two of my most trusted and powerful girls, and also council members, so that they can show you the ways of this school, and because I don't want somebody with such strong abilities to be staying with weaker girls in which you won't be compatible."She glanced at me with her wide-set blue eyes, probably making sure that I was still paying attention, and continued. "We've recently purchased a new building as an extension for the school. That is where the other girls live. You will live here. This is where you will be more comfortable."

After giving me a brief description of life at Miss Robichaux's, she allowed me to leave so that Kyle could help me move into my new room with the two other girls. I was still in shock; I was more powerful than most of the witches at this school? I hadn't ever noticed anything abnormal about myself, and I certainly didn't think I had any sort of affiliation with spells or the occult or whatever. After Kyle brought in all of my stuff, I started to unpack my clothes into the already stocked closet, sifting through hangers adorned with lace, animal print, and black fabric to find space for my own stuff.

I could hear voices by the doorway, one loud and prominent and the other hushed and raspy. I turned, and two girls stood in the doorway. I figured they were the council members I'd be rooming with. One was skinny with a long, proportionate face and ivory skin and straight honey blond hair, and the other tall, with a round, chubby face and deep brown skin, hair ashen and curly.

"You're Opal, right? 'Cause if you're not, you better get the hell out." The taller girl had spoken, her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Yeah, I am. Apparently I'm really powerful and have to room with you guys."

"I'm Queenie, and that's Zoe. We're to part of the original four." I yanked a spidery dress from a velour hanger and examined it, my eyebrows raised. "This is really cute, can I wear it sometime?"

"Yeah," Zoe said, an amused expression on her face. "What did you even do that makes you so powerful?

"Well, I was in gym class, and I sort of made the walls close in on everybody and crush them. Apparently it's a unique power. I don't even know what it's called." Queenie snorted, and I shifted on my heels as I continued slinging articles of clothing onto hangers. "What about you guys?"

"Well, I have something called the black widow power," said Zoe, appearing next to me and looking through my wardrobe without asking.

"What does that mean?"

"Her vagina is poisonous."

I turned to Zoe in disbelief, a small smirk on my face. "It's true," shrugged Zoe, slipping a silk dress I'd just hung up over her clothes. "Can I borrow this dress?"

"Uh, sure," I laughed, turning to my new roommates, and quite hopefully friends. "So, how do things work around here?"

"Well, Queenie and I are council. So we do professional shit, but also go to class, and the group dinners and whatever. Oh, speaking of. We're having a special dinner tonight in the dining hall because of our new student," Zoe explained, positioning my dress in front of her thin body and swishing it back and forth.

Queenie narrowed her eyes. "First of all, what professional shit do we even do? There's hardly any crime in the world of witchery or whatever since Fiona died." I wondered who Fiona was, but before I could ask she adverted her attention to me. "You probably want to dress up for dinner. Wear something black."

"I can do that," I chuckled, overlooking my primarily dark wardrobe. I picked up the dress I'd asked to borrow from Zoe, and surveyed it. "What about this?"

"Yeah, perfect," the skinnier girl said, and I laid the dress out on what was supposed to be my new bed. I padded to the bed that I assumed belonged to Zoe, and sat on the edge of if with my legs crossed. "How do I figure out what kind of power I have? I mean, my weird power of making walls close in, whatever that might be called, can't be my only one."

"Well, let's see," Zoe murmured, searching the room for something. When she laid her caramel eyes over the opened door, she flicked her wrist towards it, and the door slammed shut with a vibrating bang. My jaw was slack with disbelief; only now did it occur to me that that sort of thing was possible. I knew I was at a school for witchcraft, and yet I still found it hard to comprehend. With another flick, the door swung open in its frames and slammed into the opposite wall. "Your turn. Just try to concentrate on it, and it'll work. It's basic telekinesis."

I chewed on my lip and focused on the door. So that was it? It was that easy? No mumbling of rubbish words, no chanting incoherent Latin? I took a deep, invigorating breath and stared at the door, my green eyes squinted from my concentrating. I held out my left arm, and flicked.

The bed next to the door flipped completely over, a sickening thud filling the entire building. Next to it, the window opened without a passing second, so fast it left the airy curtains billowing frantically. Finally, the door shut.

Zoe turned to me, her mouth twitching in between a smirk and a look of horror. "How the hell did you do that?"

"How should I know? I just did what you told me to do."

Queenie let out a long, annoyed sigh, and turned to leave the room. "You need to work on controlling your powers, girl. And aim. I'm letting Miss Cordelia know that nobody's dead."

Zoe flicked her hand again, and in an instant everything was pristinely in order again, the bed immaculately made and the shades drawn in perfect symmetry. I let out a nervous laugh that sounded more like I was having a loss of breath.

Glancing at her phone, she quickly addressed the time."We should get ready for dinner now."

I decided to test my powers as I got changed, focusing my energy on bringing the dress I had planned to wear over to me. It flew through the air and then dropped into my arms lifelessly, and I heard myself escape a satisfied giggle from my lips. Changing into it, I looked into a mirror for the first time since yesterday.

I was pale, my skin milky white and undereye circles a light purple. Black-brown waves fell from my head to a few inches past my shoulders, completely in knotted disarray. I was a tired mess in a cute dress. The top of the dress fell off of my shoulders and laid at the perfect cut at my chest, skintight and void of any shine. The skirt fell from the base of my waist to just under my knee, its skirt lacy and voluminous, reminding me of black spiderwebs. I stepped into my pair of four-inch black high heels for special occasions, and admired my reflection.

Zoe showed up behind me, her hands on her hips. "You need something else. Maybe a corset. One second." She beckoned towards a corner of the closet, and a black corset sped towards her. "Suck in your stomach," she ordered, and I did so as she put it on me and started lacing it up.

"I can't br-" My words were cut off with her hands pulling the laces tighter; cutting off my circulation even more. I grunted, feeling the leathery material encase my midsection tighter and tighter each time. When she was done, I could barely breath out, but my curves looked phenomenal. She was right; I had been missing something.

I could deal with the discomfort for however long, if it meant I was going to look like a badass witch. I fished a pair of circle-lensed black sunglasses and slipped them on over my nose, wondering if I'd look stupid if I wore them inside.

Oh well, I thought.

I could hear the idle chatter coming from downstairs as the witches from the other building entered the dining hall. I fixated on walking down the stairs without falling in the heels I had on, hoping everybody would like me, or at the least not think I was a snobby bitch. I followed the group of girls into the dining room, Zoe by my side, feeling completely at home with all of the other girls clad in all black.

Cordelia stood in the room, looking beautiful and classy, beaming invitingly at the girls. "I'd like you all to meet our new student, Opal Dawn. She is an exceptional young witch and is only just today learning about the ways of our kind." I stood awkwardly in front of the girls, their eyes looking over my body. I was glad my eyes were concealed in tinted glass, or else they would see them nervously dart in every possible corner of the dining room, looking for something to gaze on. I made sure to keep my angular face completely emotionless as I took a seat next to a bunch of random girls at the end of the long wooden table.

I let a small half-smile show its way onto my face, and let Cordelia continue the little biography. "She is sixteen years old and comes from a city not far from here."

One girl with dark hair and eyes raised her hand half-heartedly, without pausing to wait for Cordelia to let her speak. "Why is she living in the 'elite' house-" she made air quotes around 'elite', "-and we're all living in the shitty house next door?"

"Good question, Sierra. It's because she exhibits rare powers that most witches aren't capable of in their beginning stages of witchcraft. I thought it would be more fitting to live with our council, so that they can help her adjust." Sierra was pretty, clothed in a collared black dress. She nodded, looking away with a slight expression of annoyance. I understood why she'd be pissed, anyway. I was getting all this special treatment for doing nothing.

Kyle, from earlier, walked slowly into the dining room, wheeling a silver tray filled with bowls of soup. He stopped to light a few ivory candles that lined the center of the table, and Zoe jumped from her seat and approached him. Their lips pressed against each other's, her arms slipping around his waist. "I haven't seen you all day, baby," murmured Zoe into his ear, and the rest of the girls either hooted or made sexual innuendos to their friends.

"Get a room," cracked one girl, dark brown hair entwined into a braid and grayish-blue eyes thickly lined with black. She was gorgeous, with model like cheekbones and eyebrows and near-perfect skin.

"They really should, Emily, although I wonder how hard that would be, considering Zoe's poisonous vagina," added a girl in a vintage horror movie t-shirt and short black skirt, her dark hair also in a thick braid down the center of her back.

"That's really hilarious, Lejla. You know, her experience with the black widow power was traumatic. You don't need to make jokes about it," snapped Cordelia, who was just leaving the room. The girl who'd just spoken, who I assumed had been Lejla, rolled her light brown eyes, dusted with flecks of other colors. I turned to her and Emily with my eyebrows poised.

"Hey, I'm Opal."

"Yeah, I heard," Emily breathed, playing with the braid that was settled on her shoulder. "Why are you here?" Lejla asked, swirling her spoon in the soup that was settled in front of her in a bowl.

"I killed a bunch of people accidentally. Wow, this seems like the hundredth time I've told somebody that I killed people today. What about you two?"

Emily shrugged. "I don't have any parents, I was given up by a teen mom or something when I was a baby. I have the power to bring people back to life, isn't that weird? So I ran away from foster care when I heard about this place."

"My main thing is mind control. A couple of months ago I accidentally made a bunch of stupid bitches harassing me at school to walk off the top of a building. I didn't know I was a witch then," Lejla told me, a bemused look on her face. I nodded, indulging in the stories these girls were spinning. I couldn't believe there were so many girls exactly like me, probably even under my nose where I couldn't notice.

For the rest of dinner I talked to Lejla and Emily. Both of them were interesting enough, and not as cold as I thought the other witches would be. When Cordelia signified the end, I bid them goodbye and that I'd see them tomorrow. Zoe, Queenie and I hung around the now-empty dining room, sitting amongst the dirty bowls and chairs that hadn't been pushed back in.

I felt almost like a new person, which I guess I was. I had only just discovered who I really was, and what I was capable of. I was powerful; apparently extremely so, and dangerous.

That night, I fell asleep straight away, without hesitation. Normally I lingered for a few hours when sleeping in a new bed, but it was different this time.

This time, I belonged.


End file.
